A documentary made in Valparaiso, Indiana
documenting the stories of students at Valparaiso University who have been arrested for
underage drinking and some of the officers who arrested them. Produced by Taylor Bryan,
Mark Schoeck, Mohammed Sendi and Ini Umana. Edited by Mark Schoeck.

Heavy drinkers and heavy smokers develop Alzheimers disease years earlier than
people with Alzheimers who do not drink or smoke heavily, according to research that
will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology 60th Anniversary Annual Meeting in
Chicago, April 1219, 2008. These results are significant because its
possible that if we can reduce or eliminate heavy smoking and drinking, we could
substantially delay the onset of Alzheimers disease for people and reduce the number
of people who have Alzheimers at any point in time, said study author Ranjan
Duara, MD, of the Wien Center for Alzheimers Disease at Mount Sinai Medical Center
in Miami Beach, FL, and Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology.

The histamine-3 receptor is important in terms of alcohol-related behaviour, and a drug
affecting that receptor may have qualities that alter alcohol-related behaviour. This
appears in the study headed by Pertti Panula entitled Tuberomamillary nucleus
neurons, histamine and H3 receptor in hypothalamic regulation of alcohol addiction
which is part of the Substance Use and Addictions research programme of the Academy of
Finland. Whether these histamine-3 receptor drugs help in the treatment of human
alcoholism will probably be clear when the results of the currently ongoing clinical
trials become public. The drugs are currently being tested for the treatment of conditions
such as observation disorders, sleep disorders and narcolepsy, says Professor
Panula. In addition to the well-known dopamine and serotonin, neurotransmitters that are
important to the functioning of the brain also include histamine, which is better known
for the regulation of allergies and stomach functioning. The histamine system of the brain
is important in the regulation of the sleep-waking rhythm. There is also an extensive
histamine system in the human brain.

Alcohol use during the teen years can not only lead to subsequent alcohol problems, it can
also lead to risky sexual behavior and a greater risk of early childbearing. An
examination of the relationship between a lifetime history of alcohol dependence (AD) and
timing of first childbirth across reproductive development has found that AD in women is
associated with delayed reproduction. Results will be published in the November issue of
Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at Early
View.

A new study shows that taking in smoky air and drinking alcohol basically nullify any
potential heart benefit from drinking alcohol by itself. Researchers at the University of
Alabama at Birmingham found that mice exposed to smoky air and fed a liquid diet
containing ethanol, the intoxicating ingredient in alcohol, had a 4.7-fold increase in
artery lesions, a key sign of advancing heart disease. The study appears in Free Radical
Biology & Medicine.

Researchers from The University of Manchester and the University of Newcastle in Australia
quizzed nearly 1,300 sportspeople and found alcohol-related companies sponsored almost
half of them. The sponsorship ranged from financial incentives, such as payment of
competition fees and the supply of sports kit, but nearly half of the sponsorship deals
included free or discounted alcohol for sporting functions and post-match celebrations.
The study, published in the December edition of the journal Addiction, found that
sportspeople sponsored by the alcohol industry were more likely to engage in binge
drinking than those with no alcohol sponsor.

The influence of genetics increases as young women transition from their first drink to
alcohol dependence. A team of researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine
found that although environment is most influential in determining when drinking begins,
genes play a larger role in advancing to problem drinking and alcohol dependence.

The initial signs of fetal alcohol syndrome are slight but classic: facial malformations
such as a flat and high upper lip, small eye openings and a short nose. Researchers want
to know if those facial clues can help them figure out how much alcohol it takes during
what point in development to cause these and other lifelong problems. They have good
evidence that just a few glasses of wine over an hour in the first few weeks of fetal
life, typically before a woman knows she's pregnant, increases cell death. Too few cells
are then left to properly form the face and possibly the brain and spinal cord.
"Its well known that when you drink, you get a buzz. But a couple of hours
later, that initial impact, at least, is gone," says Dr. Erhard Bieberich, biochemist
in the Medical College of Georgia Schools of Medicine and Graduate Studies. "But,
your fetus may have experienced irreversible damage."

An analysis of brain tissue samples from chronic alcoholics reveals changes that occur at
the molecular level in alcohol abuse -- and suggests a potential treatment target,
according to researchers from Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

mid renewed calls to consider reducing the legal drinking age, a new University of Georgia
study finds that lower drinking ages increase unplanned pregnancies and pre-term births
among young people. Our findings suggest that a lower drinking age increases risky
sexual behavior among young people, and that leads to more unplanned pregnancies that
result in premature birth and low birth weight, said study author Angela Fertig,
assistant professor in the UGA College of Public Health. The take-home message is
that when its easier for young people to get alcohol, birth outcomes are
worse. Fertig, who is also a public service assistant in the universitys Carl
Vinson Institute of Government, co-authored the study with Tara Watson, assistant
professor of economics at Williams College in Massachusetts. Their results appear in the
May issue of the Journal of Health Economics. The team examined birth records and survey
data on alcohol use for the years 1978 to 1988, a period when state minimum drinking age
laws were in flux. Fertig said the consensus among researchers is that a higher minimum
drinking age reduces fatal car crashes and alcohol consumption among young adults, but
there is little data on how drinking age laws influence infant health.

New brain imaging research published this week shows that, after consuming alcohol, social
drinkers had decreased sensitivity in brain regions involved in detecting threats, and
increased activity in brain regions involved in reward. The study, in the April 30 issue
of the Journal of Neuroscience, is the first human brain imaging study of alcohol's effect
on the response of neuronal circuits to threatening stimuli.

Acetaldehyde in alcohol -- no
longer just the chemical that causes a hangover

New evidence by researchers at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and
researchers in Germany shows that drinking alcohol is the greatest risk factor for
acetaldehyde-related cancer. Heavy drinkers may be at increased risk due to exposure from
multiple sources. Acetaldehyde is ubiquitous in daily life in Ontario. Widely present in
the environment, it is inhaled from the air and tobacco smoke, ingested from alcohol and
foods, and produced in the human body during the metabolism of alcoholic beverages.
Research indicates that this organic chemical plays a significant role in the development
of certain types of cancers (especially of the upper digestive tract), and it is currently
classified as possibly carcinogenic by the International Agency for Research on Cancer of
the World Health Organization. New research from CAMH in Toronto and the Chemical and
Veterinary Investigation Laboratory Karlsruhe (CVUA) in Germany recently provided the
necessary methodology for calculating the risk for the ingestion of alcoholic beverages.
The team found that risk from ingesting acetaldehyde via alcoholic beverages alone may
exceed usual safety limits for heavy drinkers. Their risk assessment study found that the
average exposure to acetaldehyde from alcoholic beverages resulted in a life-time cancer
risk of 7.6/10,000, with higher risk scenarios (e.g. contaminations in unrecorded alcohol)
in the range of 1 in 1,000. As such, the life-time cancer risks for acetaldehyde from
ingestion of alcoholic beverages greatly exceed the usual limits for cancer risks from the
environment.

Many people of East Asian descent possess an enzyme deficiency that causes their skin to
redden, or flush, when they drink alcohol. Scientists from the National Institute on
Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and Japan's Kurihama Alcohol Center now caution that
heavy alcohol consumption greatly increases the risk for esophageal cancer among such
individuals, who comprise about 8 percent of the world's population. Their review of
recent research on this topic appears in the March 24, 2009 issue of PLoS Medicine. NIAAA
is part of the National Institutes of Health. "It is very important for clinicians
who treat patients of East Asian descent to be aware of the risk of esophageal cancer from
alcohol consumption in their patients who exhibit the alcohol flushing response, so they
can counsel them about limiting their drinking," says NIAAA Acting Director Kenneth
R. Warren, Ph.D. First author Philip J. Brooks, Ph.D., of NIAAA's Laboratory of
Neurogenetics, and his colleagues note that a clinician can reliably determine whether a
patient is at risk simply by asking about previous episodes of facial flushing after
drinking alcohol. Considered from this perspective, the authors point out, the flushing
response is a clinically useful biomarker of genetic susceptibility to esophageal cancer
risk from alcohol.Dr. Brooks cites the high mortality from esophageal cancer and the large
number of individuals with the deficient enzyme, known as aldehyde dehydrogenase 2
(ALDH2). "Cancer of the esophagus is particularly deadly, with five-year survival
rates ranging from 12 to 31 percent throughout the world. And we estimate that at least
540 million people have this alcohol-related increased risk for esophageal cancer,"
he notes. "We hope that, by raising awareness of this important public health
problem, affected individuals who drink will reduce their cancer risk by limiting their
alcohol consumption." Dr. Brooks and his colleagues explain that ALDH2 plays an
important role in alcohol metabolism. When alcohol is consumed, it is first metabolized
into acetaldehyde, a chemical similar to formaldehyde, which causes DNA damage and has
other cancer-promoting effects. ALDH2 is the main enzyme responsible for breaking down
acetaldehyde into acetate, a non-toxic metabolite in the body. East Asians have two main
variants of the ALDH2 gene -- one that produces an enzyme with normal activity, and
another that results in an inactive enzyme. When individuals with the inactive variant
drink alcohol, acetaldehyde accumulates in the body, resulting in facial flushing, nausea,
and rapid heartbeat. For people with two copies of the inactive variant, these symptoms
are so severe that they can drink very little alcohol. However, individuals with only one
copy of the inactive variant can become tolerant to the unpleasant effects of
acetaldehyde, which puts them at risk for alcohol-related esophageal cancer.

Long-term daily drinking, rather than weekly binge drinking, is by far the biggest risk
factor in serious liver disease, according to a new report from the University of
Southampton. The study, published in Addiction journal this week, concludes that increases
in UK liver deaths are a result of daily or near daily heavy drinking, not episodic or
binge drinking, and this regular drinking pattern is often discernable at an early age. It
also reccommends that several alcohol-free days a week is a healthier drinking pattern. In
the study of drinking patterns, dependency and lifetime drinking history in 234 subjects
with liver disease, 106 had ALD (Alcohol-related Liver Disease)  80 of whom had
evidence of cirrhosis or progressive fibrosis  the team found that 71 per cent of
ALD patients drank on a daily basis. In contrast to the patients with alcohol-related
cirrhosis or fibrosis, patients with other forms of liver disease tended to drink
sparingly with only 10 subjects (8 per cent) drinking moderately on four or more days each
week. The study also explored lifetime drinking histories of 105 subjects and found that
ALD patients started drinking at a significantly younger age (on average at 15 years old)
than other subjects and had significantly more drinking days and units than non-ALD
patients from the age of 20 onwards. Lead author of the study Dr Nick Sheron, consultant
hepatologist and senior lecturer at the University of Southampton, comments: "If we
are to turn the tide of liver deaths, then along with an overall reduction in alcohol
consumption  which means tackling cheap booze and unregulated marketing  we
need to find a way to identify those people who are most likely to develop alcohol-related
illnesses at a much earlier stage, and perhaps we need to pay as much attention to the
frequency of drinking occasions as we do to binge drinking. "The transition from a
late teenage and early 20's binge drinking pattern to a more frequent pattern of increased
intake may prove to be a useful point of intervention in the future, and the importance of
three alcohol-free days each week should receive more prominence."

Approximately 36% of East Asians (Japanese, Chinese, and Koreans) show a characteristic
physiological response to drinking alcohol that includes facial flushing (see Figure 1),
nausea, and tachycardia [1] . This so-called alcohol flushing response (also known as
Asian flush or Asian glow) is predominantly due to an inherited
deficiency in the enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) [2]. Although clinicians and the
East Asian public generally know about the alcohol flushing response (e.g.,
http://www.echeng.com/asianblush/), few are aware of the accumulating evidence that
ALDH2-deficient individuals are at much higher risk of esophageal cancer (specifically
squamous cell carcinoma) from alcohol consumption than individuals with fully active
ALDH2. This is particularly unfortunate as esophageal cancer is one of the deadliest
cancers worldwide [3], with five-year survival rates of 15.6% in the United States, 12.3%
in Europe, and 31.6% in Japan

Gastrointestinal bleeding can be fatal -- something which is not known to many alcoholics.
This was the conclusion reached by the Leipzig gastroenterologist Niels Teich and his
colleagues, on the basis of a survey in the current edition of Deutsches Ärzteblatt
International.

A drug used to treat migraines and epilepsy showed the potential to help heavy drinkers
curb their alcohol use, according to research published in this week's Journal of the
American Medical Association.

Whether young people get drunk as a purposeful behavior or as an unintended consequence
depends on what country they live in, according to new research on young people in seven
countries. The research finds that young people's views on alcohol and drunkenness were
influenced more by culture than by factors such as age and sex. "Tragically, too many
young people purposefully pursue drunkenness as a form of 'calculated hedonism' bounded by
the structural and cultural factors that affect young people in different countries,"
says Fiona Measham, PhD, co-editor of the book and criminologist at Lancaster University.
"We need to work to change this culture of extreme drinking," says Marjana
Martinic, PhD, co-editor and vice president for public health at ICAP. "We need to
look at cultures in countries like Italy and Spain where moderate drinking is an ordinary,
every-day part of family life." Research on young people's drinking shows that rates
of drunkenness and extreme drinking are significantly lower in the Mediterranean countries
than in Northern European countries. For example, 49 percent of Swedish 17-year-olds
report having been drunk, compared with around 10 percent of Italian, French, and Greek
youth. "Changing the culture of extreme drinking requires looking beyond traditional
responses and getting all relevant stakeholders involved," concludes Dr. Martinic.
"This means governments, the public health community, the beverage alcohol industry,
the criminal justice system, and civil society must have a role in reducing extreme
drinking among young people."

A brain circuit that underlies feelings of stress and anxiety shows promise as a new
therapeutic target for alcoholism, according to new studies by researchers at the National
Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, part of the National Institutes of Health. In
preclinical and clinical studies currently reported online in Science Express, NIAAA
Clinical Director Markus Heilig, MD, PhD, and colleagues from the NIH, Lilly Research
Laboratories, and University College in London.

Patients with a certain gene variant drank less and experienced better overall clinical
outcomes than patients without the variant while taking the medication naltrexone,
according to an analysis of participants in the National Institutes of Health's 2001-2004
COMBINE (Combined Pharmacotherapies and Behavioral Interventions for Alcohol Dependence)
Study. About 87 percent of patients with the variant who received naltrexone. experienced
good outcomes, compared with about 49 percent of those who received a placebo. About 55
percent of patients without the variant experienced a good outcome regardless of whether
they received naltrexone or placebo. Good outcome was defined as abstinence or moderate
drinking without related problems, according to an article in the Feb. 4 issue of the
Archives of General Psychiatry.

According to a new report by Ensuring Solutions to Alcohol Problems at the George
Washington University Medical Center, alcohol-related problems are disproportionately
represented in American business, with employees in the hospitality, construction and
wholesale industries significantly more likely to be dependent on or abuse alcohol.

The Ensuring Solutions Alcohol Cost Calculator for Business is a free, online tool that
business leaders, researchers, and consumers can use to track the costly effects of
alcohol on U.S. businesses. The Calculator for Business, originally developed in 2003, has
been updated with new data to provide a current analysis of the effects of untreated
alcohol abuse and dependence on the workplace and employer-funded health care spending.
Using data from the 2004 and 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the calculator
estimates the cost of alcohol problems to individual businesses based on characteristics
specified by calculator users.

Research from Canada's own Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) featured in this
week's edition of the Lancet shows that worldwide, 1 in 25 deaths are directly
attributable to alcohol consumption. This rise since 2000 is mainly due to increases in
the number of women drinking. CAMH's Dr Jürgen Rehm and his colleagues found that
alcohol-attributable disorders are among the most disabling disease categories within the
global burden of disease, especially for men. And in contrast to other traditional risk
factors for disease, the burden attributable to alcohol lies more with younger people than
with the older population. Dr. Rehm still takes an optimistic 'glass half full' response
to this large and increasing alcohol-attributable burden. "Today, we know more than
ever about which strategies can effectively and cost-effectively control alcohol-related
harms," Dr. Rehm said today. "Provided that our public policy makers act on
these practical strategies expeditiously, we could see an enormous impact in reducing
damage." The study showed that Europe had a high proportion of deaths related to
alcohol, with 1 in 10 deaths directly attributable (up to 15% in the former Soviet Union).
Average alcohol consumption in Europe in the adult population is somewhat higher than in
North America: 13 standard drinks per person per week (1 standard drink = 13.6 grams of
pure ethanol and corresponds to a can of beer, one glass or wine and one shot of spirits)
compared to North America's 10 to 11 standard drinks. The recent Canadian consumption rate
is equivalent of almost 9 standard drinks per person per week age 15 plus, and has been
going up, as has high risk drinking. Globally, the average is around 7 standard drinks per
person per week (despite the fact that most of the adult population worldwide actually
abstains from drinking alcohol).

Alcohol's inebriating effects are familiar to everyone. But the molecular details of
alcohol's impact on brain activity remain a mystery. A new study by researchers at the
Salk Institute for Biological Studies brings us closer to understanding how alcohol alters
the way brain cells work.

It is commonly known that alcoholism and alcohol intoxications are connected with severe
violent crimes such as homicides. For instance, in Finland even 80 per cent of these
crimes happen in alcohol intoxications. It has not, however, been clear why only a
minority of alcoholics in intoxications become irritated and impulsively aggressive or
even commit severe violent crimes. A Finnish study now finds that low glycogen level
 which means non-oxidative glucose metabolism  predicts forthcoming violent
offending among antisocial violent offender males in a prospective 8-year follow-up study.
"Usually, the new violent crimes happened already during 1-2 years after the release
from prisons and with the new starting problems of alcoholism", says Professor Matti
Virkkunen, the corresponding author for the study. Results of the study have been
published in the June issue of the journal Psychiatry Research.

Where there is life there is hope and it is never too late to stop drinking, even with the
most severe case of alcohol-related liver disease, according to new research from the
University of Southampton. However, the downside is that up a quarter of people with
alcohol-related cirrhosis die before they get the chance to stop drinking. Alcohol-related
cirrhosis develops silently but usually presents with an episode of internal bleeding or
jaundice - which is often fatal. The study, led by Dr Nick Sheron, senior lecturer at the
University of Southampton and consultant hepatologist at Southampton General Hospital,
found that abstinence from alcohol is the key factor in long-term prognosis, even with
relatively severe alcohol-related cirrhosis on a liver biopsy. The study 'Alcohol,
cirrhosis and mortality' appears in this month's Addiction journal. Its aim was to
determine the effect of pathological severity of cirrhosis on survival in patients with
alcohol-related cirrhosis. Liver biopsies from 100 patients were scored for the Laennec
score of severity of cirrhosis between 1 January 1995 and 31 December 2000, and medical
notes were reviewed to determine various clinical factors including drinking status.

A new global study has found that lifestyle risk factors such as alcohol consumption and
cigarette smoking are important risk factors for bowel cancer. Researchers have shown that
people who consume the largest quantities of alcohol (equivalent to > 7 drinks per
week) have 60% greater risk of developing the cancer, compared with non-drinkers. Smoking,
obesity and diabetes were also associated with a 20% greater risk of developing bowel
cancer - the same risk linked with consuming high intakes of red and processed meat.
Approximately one million new cases of bowel (colorectal) cancer are diagnosed worldwide
each year, and more than half a million people die from this type of cancer. In Australia
alone, it is the most commonly occurring cancer with more than 12,000 new cases diagnosed
each year. According to lead researcher Associate Professor Rachel Huxley at The George
Institute, the most startling finding of this study was, "The strong, and largely,
unknown association between high intakes of alcoholic beverages with risk of colorectal
cancer. Most people probably know that being overweight and having poor dietary habits are
risk factors for the disease, but most are probably unaware that other lifestyle risk
factors such as alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking and diabetes are also important
culprits." Australia's National Health and Medical Research Council recommend
individuals shouldn't be drinking more than two standard drinks per day.

Researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy, Gothenburg, have discovered a new brain mechanism
involved in alcohol addiction involving the stomach hormone ghrelin. When ghrelins
actions in the brain are blocked, alcohols effects on the reward system are reduced.
It is an important discovery that could lead to new therapies for addictions such as
alcohol dependence. The results will be published in the renowned American scientific
journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Ghrelin is a hormone
produced by the stomach and, by signalling in the brain, increases hunger. The new
finding, that it is also involved in alcohol addiction, highlights the reward system of
the brain as a key target for ghrelins effects. "Ghrelins actions in the
brain may be of importance for all kinds of addictions, including chemical drugs such as
alcohol and even food" says Suzanne Dickson, Professor of Physiology, a leading
expert in appetite regulation.

New study finds continued
abstinence is key to increased survival from alcohol-related liver disease

However, the downside is that up a quarter of people with alcohol-related cirrhosis die
before they get the chance to stop drinking. Alcohol-related cirrhosis develops silently
but usually presents with an episode of internal bleeding or jaundice - which is often
fatal. The study, led by Dr Nick Sheron, senior lecturer at the University of Southampton
and consultant hepatologist at Southampton General Hospital, found that abstinence from
alcohol is the key factor in long-term prognosis, even with relatively severe
alcohol-related cirrhosis of the liver. The study appears in this month's Addiction
journal. The aim was to determine the effect of pathological severity of cirrhosis on
survival in patients with alcohol-related cirrhosis. Liver biopsies from 100 patients were
scored for the Laennec score of severity of cirrhosis between 1 January 1995 and 31
December 2000, and medical notes were reviewed to determine various clinical factors
including drinking status. Using up-to-date mortality data from the National Health
Service Strategic Tracing Service, Dr Sheron found that drinking status was the most
important factor determining long-term survival in alcohol-related cirrhosis of the liver.
He found that the degree of cirrhosis on biopsy had less impact on survival. Abstinence
from alcohol at one month after diagnosis of cirrhosis was the more important factor
determining survival with a seven year survival of 72 per cent for the abstinent patients
against 44 per cent for the patients continuing to drink.

Reshaping of the DNA scaffolding that supports and controls the expression of genes in the
brain may play a major role in alcohol withdrawal symptoms, particularly anxiety, that
makes it so difficult to stop using alcohol by alcoholics, researchers at the University
of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine and the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center report in
a study in the April 2 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

Medical scientists from Southampton have contributed to a major new report published
today, setting out plans to enhance the nation's health by improving diet, increasing
physical activity and cutting harmful drinking. Professor David Coggon and Dr Nick Sheron
of the University of Southampton's School of Medicine, are among a panel of experts from
health charities, consumer organisations, academia and the food and drink industry,
commissioned to explore how business and government can work together to promote public
health. The report found that deaths from alcohol have doubled in the last 15 years as
consumption has increased and in two decades obesity has tripled, while just 1 in 4 women
and 4 in 10 men do the recommended amount of exercise. Dr Sheron, a hepatologist at the
University of Southampton and one of the UK's leading experts on alcohol misuse explains:
"Alcohol-related liver deaths in the UK have outstripped France, Spain and Italy.
This report highlights the need for proper funding of alcohol services and makes the point
that the Government needs to think about both minimum pricing and fiscal measures that can
reduce alcohol consumption. "We have reached the stage where hazardous and harmful
drinkers are now drinking three-quarters of all the alcohol sold in the UK."

Zinc supplements during pregnancy
may counteract damage from early alcohol exposure

Animal research has shown that binge drinking  even just once  during early
pregnancy can cause numerous problems for the fetus, including early postnatal death.
Fetal zinc deficiency may explain some of the birth defects and neurodevelopmental
abnormalities associated with alcohol exposure. New rodent findings are the first to show
that dietary zinc supplements throughout pregnancy can reduce some alcohol-related birth
defects. Results will be published in the April issue of Alcoholism: Clinical &
Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View. "Alcohol's damage to
the fetus depends not only on the amount and duration of alcohol exposure, but also on the
timing of the exposure relative to the development stage of the cells and tissues
involved," said Peter Coyle, associate professor at the Hanson Institute in Adelaide,
and corresponding author for the study. "Earlier work had shown that prenatal
alcohol, as well as other toxins, can result in fetal zinc deficiency and teratogenicity
by inducing the zinc-binding protein, metallothionein, in the mother's liver. Since then,
our group has confirmed the importance of metallothionein in alcohol-mediated birth
defects." Coyle and his colleagues injected pregnant mice with either saline or a
25-percent solution of alcohol on gestational day (GD) eight; all mice received either a
regular or zinc-supplemented diet from GD zero to 18. On GD 18, fetuses from all four
groups  saline, saline plus zinc, alcohol, alcohol plus zinc  were assessed
for external birth abnormalities. In addition, from birth to day 60, researchers examined
the growth of survivors from all four groups. "There were three key findings,"
said Coyle. "One, fetal abnormalities caused by acute alcohol exposure in early
pregnancy can be prevented by dietary zinc supplementation. Two, dietary zinc
supplementation throughout pregnancy can protect against post-natal death caused by acute
alcohol exposure in early pregnancy. Three, dietary zinc supplementation increases the
mother's blood zinc to overwhelm the transient drop in zinc caused by alcohol, which we
believe prevents the fetal zinc deficiency and subsequent fetal damage."

A study of adolescent binge drinkers has found that even relatively infrequent exposure to
large amounts of alcohol during the teen years may compromise the integrity of the
brains white matter, which is critical for the efficient relay of information within
the brain. The preliminary findings  to be published online in advance of the July
issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research  indicate that
binge drinking may be detrimental to the developing adolescent brain. Heavy episodic or
binge drinking is common among adolescents, with 55% of high-school seniors
reporting having gotten drunk, and a quarter of them reporting having consumed five or
more drinks in a row during the previous two weeks. Because the brain is still
developing during adolescence, there has been concern that it may be more vulnerable to
high doses of alcohol, said Susan F. Tapert, PhD, director of Substance Abuse/Mental
Illness at the VA San Diego Healthcare System and associate professor of psychiatry at the
University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. This study showed that teens
with histories of binge drinking episodes have lower coherence of white matter fibers in a
variety of brain regions. White matter is the part of the brain made up
of the axons of neurons  long filaments that extend from the cell bodies and carry
the electrical signals that relay messages between neurons. The area appears white because
of the axons protective myelin covering. Researchers know that the integrity of the
brains white matter is compromised in adult alcoholics, but it is unclear when
during the course of drinking white matter abnormalities begin to manifest themselves.
However, white matter has been shown to continue developing throughout young adulthood.

Genetics can mediate vulnerability
to alcohol's effects during pregnancy

Drinking alcohol during pregnancy can lead to teratogenesis, the development of embryonic
defects. The estimated incidence of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD), referring to
a wide array of alcohol-exposure effects, is approximately one percent of live births in
the US. Yet not all women who drink during pregnancy give birth to children with
observable deficits. A mouse study has found that genetics may help to explain
alcohol-related susceptibility and resistance. Results will be published in the July issue
of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at Early
View. "Alcohol-related deficits include pre and/or postnatal growth retardation,
craniofacial anomalies, central nervous system dysfunction, hand or finger malformations,
a number of different skeletal malformations, and anomalies in a number of different organ
systems, including the brain, eyes, and kidney," said Chris Downing, a research
associate at the University of Colorado and corresponding author for the study. "Some
women who drink during pregnancy don't give birth to children with any of these observable
deficits, but later on their children develop a number of behavioral deficits including
hyperactivity, attention deficits, learning problems, and deficits in impulse
control," Downing added. "It is thought that these behavioral deficits are due
to brain damage as result of in utero ethanol exposure, but correlating specific
behavioral deficits with damage to specific brain areas is a work in progress. In
addition, some women who drink during pregnancy have 'normal' children with no obvious
deficits." Downing said that many factors have been shown to play a role in the
development of FASD, including the amount, timing and pattern of maternal alcohol
consumption, maternal age and parity, maternal ethnicity and socioeconomic status,
cultural factors, maternal smoking and other drug abuse, and maternal diet/nutrition. In
addition, he said, studies with humans and mice have shown that both maternal and fetal
genotypes  in conjunction with the environment  play a role in susceptibility
and resistance to the detrimental effects of in utero alcohol exposure.

Exposure to second-hand smoke and alcohol significantly raises the risk of liver disease,
according to researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). The finding
adds to mounting evidence that tobacco smoke and alcohol are worse for health as a
combination, beyond the individual exposure risks, said Shannon Bailey, Ph.D., an
associate professor in the UAB Department of Environmental Health Sciences and a co-lead
author on the study. "This new data is a significant finding considering the combined
effect of alcohol and cigarette smoke exposures, and the implications for public
health," Bailey said. The researchers reported on mice exposed to smoky air in a
laboratory enclosure and fed a liquid diet containing ethanol, the intoxicating ingredient
in alcohol drinks. Mice exposed to second-hand smoke and who drank ethanol had 110 percent
more liver fibrosis proteins than mice who breathed filtered air. Additionally, the
twice-exposed mice had 65 percent more liver fibrosis proteins than mice who breathed
smoky air but did not drink ethanol. Fibrosis is scar-like tissue in the liver that can
lead to cirrhosis.

Although alcohol consumption is known to be associated with chronic pancreatitis, new
evidence indicates that a threshold of five or more drinks per day is required to
significantly raise risk; however, most patients with chronic pancreatitis do not drink
this amount, according to a report in the June 8 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine,
one of the JAMA/Archives journals. In addition, smoking is an independent, dose-dependent
risk factor. "Chronic pancreatitis is an inflammatory syndrome of the pancreas
characterized by progressive parenchymal fibrosis [scarring of the organ], maldigestion,
diabetes mellitus and pain," the authors write as background information in the
article. "Recurrent acute pancreatitis [acute pancreatitis that occurs on two or more
occasions and may become chronic] and chronic pancreatitis are associated with alcohol
consumption and cigarette smoking. The etiology of recurrent acute pancreatitis and
chronic pancreatitis is complex, and effects of alcohol and smoking may be limited to
specific patient subsets." Dhiraj Yadav, M.D., M.P.H., of the University of
Pittsburgh, and colleagues in the North American Pancreatic Study Group examined the
current prevalence of alcohol use and smoking and their association with pancreatitis in
patients evaluated at U.S. referral centers. Between 2000 and 2006, 1,000 patients (540
with chronic pancreatitis and 460 with recurrent acute pancreatitis) were enrolled in the
North American Pancreatitis Study 2 (NAPS2), as were 695 healthy controls. All
participants (average age 49.7) reported their alcohol consumption and smoking habits.
About one-fourth of both controls and patients were lifetime abstainers. Among those with
chronic pancreatitis, 38.4 percent of men and 11 percent of women were very heavy drinkers
(five or more drinks per day), compared with 16.9 percent of men and 5.5 percent of women
with recurrent acute pancreatitis and 10 percent of men and 3.6 percent of women in the
control group. "We found the threshold drinking amount for association between
alcohol use and chronic pancreatitis to be five or more drinks per day," the authors
write. Compared with abstaining and light drinking (half a drink per day or less), very
heavy drinking was associated with approximately triple the odds of developing chronic
pancreatitis. However, fewer patients with chronic pancreatitis than expected (about
one-fourth) drank at this level. Other factors, including genetic mutations, also
contribute to pancreatitis risk.

Many people all over the world indulge themselves in drinking, which is correlated to a
wide spectrum of medical, psychological, behavioral, and social problems. It is well known
that chronic alcohol abuse may induce gastrointestinal dysfunction, chronic atrophic
gastritis and is closely related with gastric carcinoma. However, the detailed mechanism
by which ethanol affects the gastrointestinal mucosa remains to be elucidated. A research
article to be published on October 14, 2008 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology
addresses this question. The research team led by Professor Ren from Gastroenterology
Division, Zhongshan Hospital of Xiamen University, systematically evaluated gastric mucosa
alteration related to ethanol. They found that the gastric mucosal lesion index was
correlated with the malondiadehyde (MDA) content in gastric mucosa. As the concentration
of ethanol was elevated and the exposure time to ethanol was extended, the contentof MDA
in gastric mucosa increased and the extent of damage aggravated. The ultrastructure of
mitochondria was positively related to the ethanol concentration and exposure time. The
expression of mtDNA ATPase subunits 6 and 8 mRNA declined with the increasing MDA content
in gastric mucosa after gavage with ethanol. They concluded that Ethanol-induced gastric
mucosa injury is related to oxidative stress, which disturbs energy metabolism of
mitochondria and plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of ethanol-induced gastric
mucosa injury.

Studies in recent years have demonstrated that binge drinking can decrease bone mass and
bone strength, increasing the risk of osteoporosis. Now a Loyola University study has
found a possible mechanism: Alcohol disturbs genes necessary for maintaining healthy
bones. The findings could help in the development of new drugs to minimize bone loss in
alcohol abusers and in those who don't abuse alcohol but are at risk for osteoporosis.

Alcohol consumption and
polymorphisms of cytochromes P4502E1 are high risks for ESCC

A team led by Dr. Yan-Mei Guo from the Department of Clinical Medicine£¬Gansu College of
Traditional Chinese Medicine has confirmed that alcohol consumption and polymorphisms of
CYP2E1, ADH1B and ALDH2 are important risk factors for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma,
and that there is synergetic interaction between polymorphisms of CYP2E1, ALDH2 genotype
and heavy alcohol drinking for Chinese males living in Gansu province, China.

The neurotransmitter dopamine is believed to influence the development and/or maintenance
of alcoholism. Findings regarding the dopamine D2 receptor gene, however, have been
inconsistent. New research suggests that a neighboring gene, ankyrin repeat and kinase
domain containing 1, may also be involved in addictive behaviors.

Alcohol consumption by pregnant women hinders brain development in their children by
interfering with the genetic processes that control thyroid hormone levels in the fetal
brain, a new animal study found. Results will be presented Wednesday at The Endocrine
Society's 91st Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. Fetal alcohol exposureeven from
moderate drinking during pregnancycan cause neurodevelopmental disorders, such as
emotional behavioral disorders and deficits in learning, memory and speech. There is
currently no treatment for these problems, said the author who will present the study
results, Laura Sittig, a student at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
Past animal research shows that some of these lasting cognitive impairments occur because
alcohol consumption during pregnancy decreases the level of maternal thyroid hormones and,
therefore, fetal thyroid hormones. "Specific concentrations of thyroid hormones must
be available in the fetal brain to support normal neurological development," Sittig
said. One of the enzymes that control thyroid hormone levels in the fetal brain is the
iodothyronine deiodinase type III, or Dio3, she explained. Sittig and her colleagues
hypothesized that alcohol exposure in the womb leads to cognitive impairments by inducing
epigenetic alterationschanges to DNA that do not alter the actual DNA
sequenceof developmental genes like Dio3 in the fetal brain. To investigate this
hypothesis, they used rats to model moderate alcohol consumption during pregnancy. The
study, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health, demonstrated that fetal
alcohol exposure disrupts the epigenetic "imprinting" of Dio3. In this process,
Dio3 normally originates from the father's gene, while the maternal gene is silenced by
epigenetic control. But alcohol exposure changes the paternal-maternal dosage of Dio3,
which increases the amount of the enzyme present in specific brain regions of the fetus,
the authors found.

Maternal alcohol drinking during pregnancy appears to be associated with conduct problems
in children, independently of other risk factors, according to a report in the November
issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Genetics, environment differently
influence the 'pathway of risk' leading to alcohol dependence

Alcohol dependence (AD) is influenced by both genetic and environmental factors, and
involves "transitioning" through multiple stages of drinking behaviors. A study
using twins to investigate influences on the rate at which young women progress to AD has
found that genetic and individual-specific environmental influences are evident in all
transitions. Conversely, environmental influences -- such as exposure to parental conflict
-- are evident primarily in the transition from non-use to first alcohol use.

Contrary to the industry's position that visible drink labels will promote responsible
drinking, young people are, instead, using these visible standard drink labels to increase
or even maximize the amount of alcohol they consume at the lowest cost possible. According
to a study in the Drug and Alcohol Review Journal published by Wiley-Blackwell, young
people in Australia have very high awareness of standard drink labeling. However, this was
predominately to help them choose the drinks that would get them drunk in the shortest
time possible. The labels also served as guides, advising' them on which drink would
reduce the time needed to get drunk and the least amount they would need to drink - hence
getting the best value' for their money. The study entitled "The impact of more
visible standard drink labeling on youth alcohol consumption: helping young people drink
(ir)responsibly?" examines the young people's perceptions of standard drink labeling,
the purposes for which they use the labels and the potential impact on their alcohol
consumption.

One Drug May Help People Both Lay
Down the Drink and Put Out the Cigarette

A popular smoking cessation drug dramatically reduced the amount a heavy drinker will
consume, a new Yale School of Medicine study has found. Heavy-drinking smokers in a
laboratory setting were much less likely to drink after taking the drug varenicline
compared to those taking a placebo, according to a study published online in the journal
Biological Psychiatry. The group taking varenicline, sold as a stop-smoking aid under the
name Chantix, reported feeling fewer cravings for alcohol and less intoxicated when they
did drink. They were also much more likely to remain abstinent after being offered drinks
than those who received a placebo, the study found.

Impulse Control Region in Brain
Affected in Teens with Genetic Vulnerability for Alcoholism

A new study suggests that genetic factors influence size variations in a certain region of
the brain, which could in turn be partly responsible for increased susceptibility to
alcohol dependence. It appears that the size of the right orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), an
area of the brain that is involved in regulating emotional processing and impulsive
behavior, is smaller in teenagers and young adults who have several relatives that are
alcohol dependent, according to a study led by Dr. Shirley Hill, Ph.D., professor of
psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. In the research, which was
published this week in the early online version of Biological Psychiatry, Dr. Hill and her
team imaged the brains of 107 teens and young adults using magnetic resonance imaging.
They also examined variation in certain genes of the participants and administered a
well-validated questionnaire to measure the youngsters tendency to be impulsive. The
participants included 63 individuals who were selected for the study because they had
multiple alcohol-dependent family members, suggesting a genetic predisposition, and 44 who
had no close relatives dependent on drugs or alcohol. Those with several alcohol-dependent
relatives were more likely to have reduced volume of the OFC.

The relationship between heavy drinking and hypertension is more significant than
previously thought according to a new analysis of recent studies by researchers at Bristol
University, published today in PLoS Medicine.

A few antibiotics  such as metronidazole (Flagyl), tinidazole (Tindamax) and
trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (Bactrim)  should not be mixed with alcohol because
this may result in a more severe reaction. Drinking any amount of alcohol with these
medications can result in side effects such as flushing, headache, nausea and vomiting,
rapid heart rate, and shortness of breath. Keep in mind that some cold medicines and
mouthwashes also contain alcohol. So check the label and avoid such products while taking
these antibiotics.

Researchers at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health have clarified the link between
alcohol consumption and the risk of head and neck cancers, showing that people who stop
drinking can significantly reduce their cancer risk. These results have important
implications for tailoring alcohol policies and prevention strategies, especially for
people with a family risk of cancer.

One of the largest individual studies of the effects of alcohol on the risk of breast
cancer has concluded that it makes no difference whether a woman drinks wine, beer or
spirits -- it is the alcohol itself and the quantity consumed that is likely to trigger
the onset of cancer.

Over 1 million babies born annually in the United States are exposed to drugs, alcohol or
tobacco while in utero. New research published in the April issue of Pediatrics suggests
that prenatal exposure to these substances (alone or in combination) may have effects on
the baby's brain structure that persist into adolescence.

Researchers at the UCSF Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center have identified a region
on the human genome that appears to determine how strongly drinkers feel the effects of
alcohol and thus how prone they are to alcohol abuse. The researchers found that a DNA
sequence variation, known as a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), on chromosome 15 is
significantly associated with the level of response to alcohol and could signal the
genetic factors that affect alcohol abuse, according to findings published in the Dec. 8
online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Drinkers with the alcohol
dehydrogenase 1C*1 gene are at greater risk of colorectal cancer

Chronic drinking is a risk factor for colorectal cancer, possibly through the effects of
acetaldehyde, which is created by the alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) enzyme. This study
investigated if a polymorphism of the ADH1C gene that is found in Caucasians may effect
acetaldehyde concentrations. Findings confirm ADH1C*1 as a genetic risk marker for
colorectal tumors among people who drink more than 30 grams of alcohol per day.

One part of the prenatal brain that may be particularly sensitive to alcohol's effects is
white matter, nerve fibers through which information is exchanged between different areas
of the central nervous system. A recent study has demonstrated that alcohol consumption
during pregnancy can alter the microstructural integrity of developing fetal cerebral
white matter in the frontal and occipital lobes of the brain. These anomalies may help to
explain the executive dysfunction and visual processing deficits that are associated with
gestational alcohol exposure. "The brain's white matter is made up of nerve bundles
that transfer information between brain regions," explained Susanna L. Fryer, a
researcher at San Diego State University's Center for Behavioral Teratology and
corresponding author for the study. "Optimal white-matter integrity is thought to
support efficient cognition. So the finding that prenatal alcohol exposure is associated
with altered white-matter integrity may help explain aspects of the cognitive and
behavioral problems that individuals with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs)
commonly face." "Several studies of FASD within the last three years have used a
new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique called Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) to
examine the brain's connective network  also known as white matter in ways not
previously possible," added Jeffrey R. Wozniak, assistant professor of psychiatry at
the University of Minnesota.

In the lab, Smith focuses on a small sub-population of fetal cells called neural crest
cells that contribute to the formation of parts of the nervous system, face and heart.
These cells are damaged and sometimes killed by alcohol, and children with fetal alcohol
exposure can suffer damage to those organs, including visible facial malformations.
Studying the effect of alcohol on chicken embryos, Smith was able to show that alcohol
somehow directs the neural crest cells to end their own lives. "Cell death is an
active process," explains Smith. "A cellular switch has to be turned on for cell
death to occur. Usually the switch is suppressed, or kept silent. Alcohol is toxic because
it can turn that switch on, and it does so by causing cells to release calcium."

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine have found a link between alcohol
consumption and HIV disease progression in HIV-infected persons. The study appears online
in the August issue of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.

In a study likely applicable to men of other ethnicities, Tulane University researchers
found that heavy drinking (more than 21 drinks per week) may increase the risk of stroke
in Chinese men. The results of the study are published in the Annals of Neurology.

Scientific evidence has long suggested that moderate drinking offers some protection
against heart disease, certain types of stroke and some forms of cancer. But new research
shows that stopping drinking  including at moderate levels  may lead to health
problems including depression and a reduced capacity of the brain to produce new neurons,
a process called neurogenesis.

Public domain video clip from
www.timesonline.co.uk/sundaytimes. Royalty free music from the Music Bakery. SCIENTISTS
have captured graphic ultrasound images of the damage done to unborn babies as a result of
women drinking during pregnancy. Just one glass of wine a week can make babies
"jump" in the womb throughout a nine-month pregnancy. Experts believe this
abnormal hyperactive behavior is the result of alcohol slowing or retarding the formation
of the central nervous system. Doctors have warned for decades that women who consume
large amounts of alcohol during pregnancy can affect their child's mental development.
However, the new research suggests even moderate alcohol consumption makes a baby 3½
times more likely to suffer from abnormal spasms in the womb. The findings, by Peter
Hepper, a professor at Belfast University's fetal behavior research unit, appear to back
the view that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption during pregnancy. Hepper's
findings have surprised child neurology experts. Between conception and 18 weeks, babies
display a primitive "startle reflex" which causes babies to jump involuntarily
in the womb at loud noises and other stimuli. However, once the nervous system is fully
formed at 18 weeks, the reflex disappears in healthy babies and is replaced by a calmer
"adult" reflex. Hepper found that the babies of mothers who drank  whether
one unit a week or four  all continued to display a "startle reflex"
throughout their pregnancy. The reflex in the babies of the non-drinking mothers tailed
off at 18 weeks. The professor also found that the babies of women who drank suffered more
"startles" during the first 18 weeks. Hepper, who published his findings in the
Journal of Physiology and Behaviour, concluded that even moderate consumption of alcohol
had a serious effect on the formation of a baby's central nervous system. He explained:
"This indicates that the nerve pathways in the brain have been damaged." Hepper
concluded: "Our study shows that alcohol is having an effect on the baby even at low
levels and that is quite disturbing. We don't think there is a safe limit for alcohol
consumption in pregnancy." Hepper's study appears to corroborate US research,
conducted after birth, which has shown that drinking during pregnancy lowers a child's IQ
and increases hyperactivity. Some doctors believe the babies scanned by Hepper are showing
the early signs of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) which is thought to cause a range of
behavioral and neurological disorders in children. The Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Trust
estimates that between 6,000 to 12,000 babies are affected in the UK each year. Margaret
Burrows, a clinical geneticist at Leicester royal infirmary, said: "The startle
movement (in the womb) is clearly not normal and would seem to indicate the child has the
traits of fidgeting which we see in attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD).
"We believe that a proportion of children who have ADHD may have developed it as a
result of their mother's drinking during pregnancy." The next stage of Hepper's study
will monitor whether the babies go on to suffer mental and behavioral problems. Hepper
presented the findings of his study of 40 pregnant women from the Royal Maternity
hospital, Belfast, to the Royal Society of Medicine on Wednesday. None of the mothers was
asked to drink but 20 admitted that they would continue to drink during their pregnancy.
The other 20 drank no alcohol. Researchers questioned the 20 pregnant drinkers and found
they consumed between one and four units of alcohol (four glasses of wine) a week. In the
first half of the study all the women underwent three ultrasound scans during the first 18
weeks of their pregnancy. In the second half, the women had four more scans at 20, 25, 30
and 35 weeks. The scans lasted up to 45 minutes to try to capture hyperactivity. Fetal
Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD), Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), Fetal Alcohol Effects
(FAE), Partial Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (pFAS), Alcohol Related Neurodevelopmental Disorders
(ARND), Static Encephalopathy Alcohol Exposed (SEAE) and Alcohol Related Birth Defects
(ARBD) are all names for a spectrum of disorders caused when a pregnant woman consumes
alcohol. FASD is 100% preventable. If you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant, don't
drink any beverage alcohol. There is no known safe level. To ignore the facts does not
change the facts.

Blood HDL Cholesterol Levels
Influence Association of Alcohol Intake With Blood Pressure in Young Men But Not in
Middle-Aged Men

The results suggest that blood pressure of middle-aged men is elevated by alcohol drinking
independently of blood HDL level and is more sensitive to drinking than is blood pressure
of young men.

Alcoholics with cirrhosis of the
liver have more brain damage than noncirrhotic alcoholics

Cirrhosis of the liver is one of the most common and serious medical complications linked
to alcoholism. Heavy alcohol use can also cause brain damage. Cirrhotic alcoholics appear
to have even more impaired brain function than noncirrhotic alcoholics.

Rats whose mothers were fed alcohol during pregnancy are more attracted to the smell of
liquor during puberty. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal
Behavioral and Brain Functions have shown that rats exposed during gestation find the
smell of alcohol on another rat's breath during adolescence more attractive than animals
with no prior fetal exposure. Professor Steven Youngentob from the State University of New
York Upstate Medical University, USA, led a team of researchers who investigated the
social and behavioral effects of fetal ethanol exposure in adolescent and adult rats. He
said, "The findings by Amber Eade in my lab reveal that fetal ethanol exposure
influences adolescent re-exposure, in part, by promoting interactions with intoxicated
peers. These results highlight an important relationship between fetal and adolescent
experiences that appears essential to the progressive development of alcohol abuse."
Fetal ethanol experience is believed to train the developing sense of smell to find
ethanol odor more attractive. The authors describe how, in both rats and humans, fetal
exposure changes how the odor and flavor of ethanol are perceived. They write, " Such
learning may be a fundamental feature of all mammalian species because it is important
(from a survival standpoint) for the pre-weanling animal to accept and be attracted to the
food sources consumed by the mother". In this study the authors found that rats
unexposed to ethanol were significantly less likely to follow an intoxicated peer than
those with gestational experience.

As schools reopen around the country, a new study finds that parents and teachers should
pay attention to alcohol prevention starting as early as fourth grade. A review of
national and statewide surveys conducted over the last 15 years shows that among typical
4th graders, 10 percent have already had more than a sip of alcohol and 7 percent have had
a drink in the past year.

Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder often have structural brain damage. Recent
findings show that several specific white matter regions, as well as deep gray matter
areas, of the brain are particularly sensitive to prenatal alcohol exposure. These
abnormalities likely underlie the cognitive, motor, behavioral and emotional difficulties
that are associated with FASD.

Researchers applied a variety of genetic and analytic techniques to mice having nearly
identical genetic background, but differing in their preference for alcohol, to identify a
chromosomal region, and ultimately a gene, associated with alcohol preference. If further
studies show that a similar gene is relevant to alcohol problems in humans, the finding
may lead to new opportunities for developing drugs to treat alcohol dependence.

A new study by researchers at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences,
part of the National Institutes of Health, shows that pregnant women who binge drink early
in their pregnancy increase the likelihood that their babies will be born with oral
clefts.

Overall alcohol use -- particularly consumption of beer -- is declining in the US,
according to a new study published in the August 2008 issue of the American Journal of
Medicine. Researchers examined 50 years of data and found several changes in alcohol
intake but no change in alcohol use disorders. Americans are drinking significantly less
beer and more wine, while hard liquor use has remained fairly constant. More people now
report that they are nondrinkers.

In a study on fetal alcohol syndrome, researchers were able to prevent the damage that
alcohol causes to cells in a key area of the fetal brain by blocking acid sensitive
potassium channels and preventing the acidic environment that alcohol produces. The
cerebellum, the portion of the brain that is responsible for balance and muscle
coordination, is particularly vulnerable to injury from alcohol during development.

An article released by a group of top scientists from around the world presents
"convincing" evidence that excess body fat along with alcohol and red and
processed meat consumption lead to an increased risk for many types of cancer, including
those affecting the breast, bowel and pancreas.

In this issue: Certain genetic factors may both increase and protect against the risk of
developing alcoholism; The aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH2*2) allele is considered
protective against alcoholism; and Intravenous administration of an anti-Aldh2 antisense
gene can curtail long-term drinking among rodents.

There is a link between alcohol consumption and increased risk of perennial allergic
rhinitis, according to a recent Danish study of 5,870 young adult women. The study,
published in the July issue of Clinical and Experimental Allergy, found that the risk
increased 3 percent for every additional alcoholic drink per week. In contrast, the
authors did not observe any increase in risk of seasonal allergic rhinitis according to
alcohol intake.